THE PAST FEW DECADES have witnessed profound changes in the way we view our gardens, and in the ways we plant them, use them and maintain them. Our perennial affection for beauty is now matched with a growing desire for functionality. Gardens must be pretty and be purposeful. They should please our eyes, entertain us, take us places. They should also offer refuge and inspiration, and smartly practical spaces where we can simply live well. Above all, our gardens must do this with increased efficiency, using resources fairly and wisely and, whenever possible, giving something back by supporting the living communities that surround them. We want our gardens to work and we want them to require less work.
The astounding growth in the popularity of grasses during this same period is no coincidence. More than any other group in our vast garden palette, grasses can do more with less. The innate adaptability that has allowed grasses and their relatives, the sedges and rushes, to inhabit infinite niches around the globe makes them uniquely suited to the varied demands of modern gardens. Neil Lucas knows all of this firsthand, and he knows it well. In Designing with Grasses he has illustrated the ethos of a grassy style of gardening that is elegantly in sync with our time.
I originally met Neil through California plantsman Dave Fross, and was immediately impressed by his knowledge and delighted by his wit and generosity of spirit. We’ve since made many trips together through grass-filled landscapes and gardens in his native England and in North America, and I never fail to learn something in Neil’s company. His refined eye is evident in his photographs: Neil can capture the grace and subtle midwinter drama of native moor grasses mingling with heathers in a Dorset meadow, or the joyful lilt of miscanthus plumes in his own Knoll Gardens in autumn.
Located near Wimborne in an enviably frosty bit of southern England, Knoll Gardens’ four acres have served as Neil’s proving grounds for myriad design and maintenance strategies and as the ‘launch site’ of nine consecutive Chelsea Gold Medal-winning exhibits of grasses. Knoll is also home to Neil’s specialist nursery, which offers perhaps the most extensive selection of grasses in the U.K. The diversity of grasses that Neil has brought to Knoll has in turn enriched collections and displays in many private and public gardens including the Royal Horticultural Society Garden, Wisley.
Neil Lucas has a deep understanding of the breadth of possibilities for using grasses in landscapes, and has condensed all of his experience into a personal yet universally practical volume. His book is populated by rain gardens, roof gardens, gravel gardens, wetlands, meadows, urban centers and intimate home habitats. Throughout, the focus is on a proven palette of especially hardy plants, most of which are as well suited to North America as they are to the British Isles and northern Europe. For experienced gardeners as well as those who are just discovering grasses, Designing with Grasses offers a thoroughly modern perspective on the role of grasses in beautifully functional landscapes.
RICK DARKE
August 2010